PSP searches of FC Porto: ten defendants and thousands of tickets seized | Justice

Futebol Clube do Porto revealed this Sunday, through a statement published on its site official, who is being searched. “Football Clube do Porto informs that searches are taking place in one of the group’s subsidiaries, Porto Comercial, and in the Associate’s store at Estádio do Dragão, and from now on undertakes to provide any and all support to the authorities in carrying out their diligence”, reads the club’s statement.

According to an official PSP source, the searches began at 7am and are related to a certificate extracted from the Operation Praetorian which led to the arrest of Fernando Madureira, the Super Dragões cheerleader, and covers locations in the municipalities of Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia and Matosinhos.

The measures were ordered by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the criminal investigation judge and are being carried out by the Criminal Investigation Division of the PSP of Porto, with the operational support of various areas of that police force, including its Special Police Unit (UEP).

The operation taking place this Sunday, called Golden Ticket, aims to execute 14 home search warrants and four non-domestic search warrants. Among the targets of the searches are several members of Fernando Madureira’s family, who is in preventive detention, namely his in-laws, parents of his wife Sandra Madureira, his daughter Catarina Madureira, and her boyfriend, João Duarte Rocha, as well as other related elements to Grupo Porto, including the former vice president of FC Porto, Alípio Jorge Fernandes and Cátia Guedes, an employee at the Associado store, and Fernando Saul, fan liaison officer.

At issue is the suspicion of a criminal scheme, related to the distribution and sale of tickets associated with Futebol Clube de Porto, involving club employees and several elements that make up one of its Organized Supporter Groups.

According to the same PSP source, “evidence was collected of suspected crimes of distribution and sale of false or irregular ticket titles/irregular distribution and sale of ticket tickets provided for in Law 39/2009, of 30 July (regime legal security and combating racism, xenophobia and intolerance at sporting events) and qualified abuse of trust”.

At this point, the PSP has already named more than a dozen defendants and seized thousands of tickets and monetary amounts still to be determined.

Tickets for the Boavista game seized

Meanwhile, the Super Dragões Association released a statement on its official page, on Facebook, stating that, “due to news brought to the public regarding legal proceedings carried out this morning, tickets were seized for the Football game Clube do Porto – Boavista (8:30 p.m., Estádio do Dragão) which result from the execution of the Protocol in force with Futebol Clube do Porto, according to a publicly available document available on the Web site of the Association for the Prevention and Combat of Violence in Sport (APCVD)”.

According to the Super Dragões Association, “in view of the circumstances, as it was not possible to determine which tickets had already been delivered to groups and/or groups, Futebol Clube do Porto was asked to refund and cancel all tickets issued under the aforementioned Protocol “. “The necessary clarifications will certainly be provided regarding the procedure to be adopted regarding the return of tickets already delivered and cancelled”, emphasizes the association, which regrets “what happened”, adding that “it is the first time in history that the bench will not be filled” .

“We are fully convinced that everything will be clarified in person”, it reads.

These are not the first searches carried out by the police this year related to FC Porto. On January 31st of this year, the PSP detained 12 people — including two FC Porto employees and the leader of the Super Dragões, Fernando Madureira — as part of the Operation Praetorianwhich investigates incidents that occurred at an extraordinary general meeting of the club.

At issue are crimes of harm to physical integrity in the context of a sporting spectacle or event related to the sporting phenomenon, coercion and aggravated threat, public instigation of a crime, throwing of objects or liquid products and also an attack on freedom of information. The Public Ministry maintains that the Super Dragões fans intended to “create a climate of intimidation and fear”, so that the statutory review could be approved “in the interests” of the then “blue and white” leadership, led by Pinto da Costa.

Last week, the Porto Criminal Instruction Court decided to keep Fernando Madureira, leader of the Super Dragões cheerleader, and Hugo Carneiro, known as “Polaco”, in pre-trial detention in this case.

New club president still without access to SAD

The club’s presidency recently changed hands. More than 42 years later, Pinto da Costa lost the elections and gave way to André Villas-Boas. The list led by Villas-Boas achieved a significant victory in the elections on April 27, garnering around 80.3% of the votes. This electoral event was the most participated in the history of FC Porto, with 26,876 members casting their vote in the ballot box. The 1988 record (10,700 members) was more than doubled, with Porto members clearly showing their desire for change.

Despite this victory, Villas-Boas only took office as president of the club and not of FC Porto’s SAD. You will have to wait at least 21 days until the general shareholders meeting takes place, which has been scheduled for May 28th. After this approval, Villas-Boas will be president with full functions.

In his inauguration speech, on the 7th of May, Villas-Boas did not forget the “arm’s-length” he is fighting with the leadership led by Pinto da Costa. The new president fights for timely access to fundamental dossiers in life of the club, but has encountered resistance from SAD administrators — who refuse to speed up the process. “I could not fail to end this speech without appealing to the common sense of FC Porto’s SAD administration. Your resignation would never be considered! an act of escape, but, yes, a noble act that would elevate you”, reiterated André Villas-Boas.